Although
North Korea has released the Australian missionary it recently arrested, the
Korean-American missionary who was arrested a few months ago while working in a
refugee camp near the Chinese border remains in a hard labour camp. Now the authorities
have announced that 33 people who have allegedly had contact with the latter
missionary are to be executed.
The newly
crowned Miss Pennsylvania, Valerie Gatto, has revealed that she was conceived
in rape. Her mother was raped at knifepoint when she was 19; her assailant
intended to kill her but was thwarted by a bright light from an unknown source.
When she found out she was pregnant, Valerie’s mother decided to give the baby
up for adoption, until her own mother said, “God does not give us more than we
can handle.” So she abandoned plans to go to law school and kept her baby.
Valerie said, “If I just sit here and think, ‘Why did this happen?’ or ‘Does my
father know I exist?’ and let the fear of the unknown stop me, I wouldn’t be
living my life. God has put me here for a purpose.”
Ulf Ekman,
who founded the largest charismatic church in Sweden (with about 3000 members,
12 pastors, and a school with 1000 students), and is considered a “spiritual
father” by many charismatic leaders, has announced that he is converting to
Roman Catholicism. Ekman said, “We have seen a great love for Jesus and a sound
theology. We have experienced the richness of sacramental life. We have seen
the logic of a solid structure for priesthood. We have met an ethical and moral
strength and consistency, and a kindness towards the poor and the weak. And we
have met representatives of millions of charismatic Catholics and have seen
their living faith.” Ekman is a former Communist who has planted many churches,
and preached in churches and stadiums, in states of the former USSR.
In Alabama,
the lower house of the State legislature has passed four pro-life bills,
including one that would prevent abortions after the baby’s heart starts
beating (which occurs at about the sixth week of pregnancy). Alabama is
considered one of the most pro-life states in the USA, although a pro-life law
that was passed by both houses and the governor last year has been temporarily
restrained by a judge. That law required doctors who conduct abortions to have
admitting privileges to a local hospital (in case of medical complications for
the mother); the restraint was on the grounds that other surgery-providing
health centres don’t have the same requirement placed on them.
The
Evangelical Alliance, which represents two million people across the UK, has
joined a campaign to ban the Sun’s topless page 3 images. It made its
announcement a day after the Sun published a topless image of a model on the
front page, allegedly to raise awareness of
breast cancer.
In sport, Britain’s
former number one lady tennis player Elena Baltacha has revealed that she has
been diagnosed with liver cancer. Baltacha is 30 and has been suffering from a
chronic liver condition that compromises her immune system since the age of 19.
Baltacha has stated that she is “fighting this illness with everything I have.”
Also in
sport, the FA Cup has thrown up some of the first big surprise results of the
season. The FA Cup semi-finals will be Sheffield United (from what used to be the
Third Division) against Hull City, and Arsenal against Wigan Athletic. Wigan
defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup for the second year in a row; last year
it was in the final.
And finally,
a dog that was rushed to accident and emergency after licking coolant from his
owner’s garage had his life saved by an unusual form of medicine. Vets deduced
that the Maltese terrier had ethylene glycol poisoning, and that the best
treatment was an intravenous drip of pure alcohol, which can chemically alter
antifreeze chemicals. He was given 700ml (a pint and a quarter) of vodka over
two days, and survived despite stumbling around, vomiting a little, and getting an almighty hangover.
No comments:
Post a Comment